With E-mail being one of the major ways both individuals and businesses keep in contact with one another, one of the most important things to do is back-up your emails. Although it takes only a few minutes, it can save your business hours of time if something does go wrong. If you use Microsoft Outlook to manage your email then depending on which version of Outlook you are using it is fairly straight-forward to create these back-ups.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 Users:

Step 1: Click the File menu on the top toolbar and select Import and Export, this will prompt the Import and Export Wizard to show.

Step 2: Select Export to a file and then click Next. You then choose Personal Folder File (.pst) and then click Next again.

Step 3: The Personal Folder should now be highlighted. If not, select Personal Folder. You then double click on Personal Folder to collapse everything. Ensure that you have checked the Include Subfolders option and then click Next.

Step 4: You can leave the default name in the Save Exported File as or rename it if you prefer. Then if you select Browse, change the location you want to save the file to one which you can find easily such as the Desktop. Then click Finish.

Step 5: You can either choose to add a password to your file for extra security or just click OK and the process is complete.

Using Outlook 2003 instead of 2007? Read this blog: Back-up Your Outlook (Outlook 2003 Users)

Looking for more Outlook Hints and Tips

Before you start the diagnostics:

• Run the diagnostics when you do not need to use your computer
• Make sure you are connected to the Internet
• Close other programmes
• Make sure you have Microsoft Office installation disk in case there are problems and your program will need an access to the disk to repair

If Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Access are still working then to start the Microsoft Office Diagnostics follow the steps:

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Word Options (or Excel Options or PowerPoint Options or Access Options)
2. Click Resources
3. Click the Diagnose button
4. Click Continue, and then click Run Diagnostics.

If InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Project, SharePoint Designer, or Visio are still working then to start the Microsoft Office Diagnostics follow the steps

1. On the Help menu, click Office Diagnostics.
2. Click Continue, and then click Start Diagnostics.

If any of the above programmes has crashed so badly that they not start, you can run Office Diagnostics from the Start menu.

1. In Windows, click the Start button
2. Point to All Programs, then to Microsoft Office and then to Microsoft Office Tools
3. Select Microsoft Office Diagnostics

To check which tests are available read Tips and Tricks: Microsoft Office 2007 – Why Use Microsoft Office Diagnostics?

Want more tips? Click on Microsoft Tips & Tricks